How do I center a div of one column size within the container (12 columns) in Twitter Bootstrap 3.
Please see the starter fiddle.
<body class="container">
<div class="col-lg-1 col-offset-6 centered">
<img data-src="holder.js/100x100" alt="" />
</div>
</body>
So, I want a div
, with a class centered
to be centered within the container. I may use a row if there are multiple divs, but for now I just want a div with size of one column centered within the container (12 columns).
I am also not sure the above approach is good enough as the intention is not to offset the div
by half. I do not need free spaces outside the div
and the contents of the div
shrink in proportion. I want to empty space outside the div to be evenly distributed (shrink till the container width == one column).
You can use
text-center
for the row, and make sure the internal divs havedisplay:inline-block
( with notfloat
)as:
and css:
The fiddle: http://jsfiddle.net/DTcHh/3177/
Note if you are using Bootstrap 4, you can use
.align-items-center
in yourrow
as Boostrap 4 now uses flex system.Because I never have the need to center only a single
.col-
within a.row
, I set the following class on the wrapping.row
of my target columns.Example
There are two approaches to centering a column
<div>
in Bootstrap 3:Approach 1 (offsets):
The first approach uses Bootstrap's own offset classes so it requires no change in markup and no extra CSS. The key is to set an offset equal to half of the remaining size of the row. So for example, a column of size 2 would be centered by adding an offset of 5, that's
(12-2)/2
.In markup this would look like:
Now, there's an obvious drawback for this method, it only works for even column sizes, so only
.col-X-2
,.col-X-4
,col-X-6
,col-X-8
andcol-X-10
are supported.Approach 2 (the old margin:auto)
You can center any column size by using the proven
margin: 0 auto;
technique, you just need to take care of the floating that is added by Bootstrap's grid system. I recommend defining a custom CSS class like the following:Now you can add it to any column size at any screen size and it will work seamlessly with Bootstrap's responsive layout:
Note: With both techniques you could skip the
.row
element and have the column centered inside a.container
but you would notice a minimal difference in the actual column size because of the padding in the container class.Update:
Since v3.0.1 Bootstrap has a built-in class named
center-block
that usesmargin: 0 auto
but is missingfloat:none
. You can add that to your CSS to make it work with the grid system.This is probably not the best answer, but there is one more creative solution to this. As pointed out by koala_dev the column offsetting works only for even column sizes. However, by nesting rows you can achieve centering uneven columns as well.
To stick with the original question where you want to center a column of 1 inside a grid of 12.
For example:
See this fiddle, please note that you have to increase the size of the output window in order too see the result, otherwise the columns will wrap.
For those looking to center the column elements on the screen when you don't have the exact number to fill your grid, I have written a little piece of JavaScript to return the class names:
If you have 5 elements and you want to have 3 per row on a
md
screen, you do this:Keep in mind, the second argument must be dividable by 12.